Tuesday, 8 March 2016

Is the Easter Bunny allergy Friendly?

It’s that time of
year when all the stores are featuring colourful, shiny, glittering displays of
chocolate bunnies and Easter eggs, filled with toys or favourite children’s
characters. It’s hard to miss. It’s also hard to miss that so many of these
treats designed for children contain nuts and other common allergens, like
dairy and egg.

One year
supermarket shopping with my little man, we ran into a wall of chocolate eggs
with toys and treats, and signs of the Easter Bunny. He looked excited,
superhero eggs, and some of his favourite characters attached to these
chocolate eggs and lollies inside. He was very keen that maybe the Easter Bunny
would bring something like this to him.

I reminded him that
some of these treats, although they looked great might not be safe and they
might not be allergy friendly. The face of disappointment and confusion looked
up at me, “Why would the Easter bunny put my allergies and nuts in it? … he
knows I have allergies…”

These are the kind
of situations that are complex for little people with allergies. Cross
contamination isn’t always easy to explain to little people, or big people for
that matter.

For anyone who is
at risk of anaphylaxis, only a tiny amount can cause a potentially fatal
allergic reaction. A contaminated piece of equipment or careless labelling can
take a life. This is not exactly how I explained it to my preschooler at the time.

What’s
in the label?

A lot of the Easter
chocolates - complete with favourite characters or popular toys and marketed
towards young children - are not made in Australia. Not all countries have
strict regulations that require manufacturers to declare allergens. In Australia the
top most common allergens are legally required to be declared on the label –
peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, eggs, fish/shellfish, wheat, sesame and soy. There
are also some requirements for declaring gluten (see more). Obviously not
helpful if you have allergies that are not in the top eight such as mustard
seed or coconut for instance.

Other countries
such as China and parts of
Asia, and many other countries where Easter chocolate treats are often but not
always made, for higher profit margins, do not have strict regulations such as
we do here in Australia.

However even with
Australian labelling there are problems. Undeclared allergens are reported from time to time. And
even 'may contain' warnings can be a problem too.

Precautionary or
warning labels such as “may contain” or “processed on machinery that contains...” in
Australia,
and most parts of the world are voluntary and are therefore not audited. Unfortunately
there are many manufacturers who apply the ‘may contain’ warning on their
products, sometimes perhaps unnecessarily.

This makes choices
for people with serious allergies very limiting. Or we increasingly ignore the ‘may
contain’ type labels, which can also be problematic. A
recent US
study tested 186 products with precautionary peanut labels and found 16 (just
under 9 percent) actually contained the allergen. The consequences of ignoring
such labels recently proved tragic. A young man aged 22, Bruce Kelly, of Minnesota who had a peanut
allergy, died of anaphylaxis earlier
this year after eating a chocolate bar with a label that said it had been “made
in a plant that also processed peanuts”.

These ‘may contain’
warnings do warrant some skepticism, that many companies prefer to slap on this type
of warning to avoid all responsibility rather than display accurate warnings
and labels on their products. It appears profits come first, not correct
labelling. Even allergists are confused about these ‘may contain’ warnings and
advice can vary from doctor to doctor. In effect, the random and unregulated ‘may
contain’ warnings shift responsibility away from the manufacturer, and on to
the severely allergic consumer to decide without any real information on which
to base their decision. This needs to change.

Chocolate Easter
eggs and treats in particular can be risky for kids with allergies because they
are often made in the same factory or machinery as milk, nut and egg products.
In particular this can be a real risk for those of us with severe nut
allergies, as while some brands of chocolates may not list nuts, they can
contain traces of nuts, and many allergists would recommend only purchasing
chocolate produced in a nut free facility.

Chocolate
free Easter?

One Easter break we
spent time with some little cousins, and they did the cutest little Easter treasure
hunt. Coloured plastic eggs were hidden throughout the garden, inside were
small toys, treats and safe lollies. We
organised it so that my son could participate, and we didn’t include any of the
unsafe Easter eggs. The three little cousins must have been chatting about this
as my little man was again confused about it.

Luckily, although
the majority of Easter sweets and treats that are heavily marketed towards kids
are not safe for children with food allergies, there are thankfully some considerate
manufacturers who make Easter chocolates in a nut free facility. These are the
kind of chocolates we do buy, many are also dairy and wheat, and egg free too. There
are increasingly a lot more of these appearing on the shelves.

While my little guy
is still finding it tricky to comprehend cross contamination or what ‘may
contain’ labels might mean, I can’t really fault him on this. It is super
complex and unfair. After all, wouldn’t the real and true Easter bunny chocolate
factory be allergy friendly?

The Easter bunny
sure is allergy friendly and inclusive at our house, amongst friends and I
think increasingly childcare centres and preschools are on getting on board.
Here are some quick easy and FUN ideas to get started.

Fun-Allergy-Friendly-inclusive
ideas:

There are so many
wonderful alternatives to unsafe cheap Easter chocolates and raw egg decorating
craft activities to explore. There are loads of fabulous inclusive Easter
activities that are lots of fun for kids.

Easter
egg hunt

Plastic fillable Easter
eggs are usually found at craft stores. I have also seen wooden eggs too. Fill
with small toys, safe chocolates, lollies or favourite treats.

Filler ideas - Make
sure they are safe for little toddlers if they are included in the activity:

Small figurines
like dinosaurs or lego figures, or playmmobil figures

Marshmallows (bunny
tails)

Small bottles of
bubbles

Gold coins (real
ones)

Stickers

Bracelets or
hairclips

Small toys

Safe lollies or
treats

Bouncing balls

finger puppets

matchbox cars

Inclusive
Easter craft ideas for home or the class-room

·Decorate eggs with collage, paint or markers. Foam, wooden
or plastic eggs can be found at craft stores.

·Make Easter bunny ears with paper and collage

·Paper plate craft such as bunny mask, or collage a chick or bunny shape

·Make a basket to collect your allergy friendly Easter eggs

Practice
inclusiveness

If you are a
teacher planning an Easter hunt non food treats might be the most
inclusive idea. For craft or cooking activities there are many ideas out there
to ensure all children can participate, and all children learn about
inclusiveness.

Here are some great
links for parents, carers and teachers to get you started, but there are so many
to find you will be surprised.

Great Easter tips

Easter ideas with
food allergies

Cooking
with kids

Again, there are so
many allergy friendly cooking activities with an Easter theme or just as a
school holiday activity. Cooking with kids with allergies is a great idea, as children
with allergies or coeliac disease can easily become fearful of food. Cooking
involves children with food and can help ease anxieties around food.

Or if you are planning
a cooking activity at school or kinder, or afterschool care, it’s an activity
all children could be involved in when the recipe is adapted accordingly. Don’t
forget to contact parents of children with allergies, coeliac disease and other
food intolerances before the day to
ensure all ingredients are safe.

Great cooking
activity, you can make with or without the kids!

Enjoy your fun
activities with your children, whether it’s at home or school. There are lots
of ways to make it fun and safe. If you are buying treats, remember always read the label every time as
ingredients can change. Last, but not least you could leave out something special
for the Easter bunny the night before, maybe something allergy friendly?